gordon ramsay’s beef wellington

Jon and I enjoy a good culinary challenge. Even during college days, we enjoyed cooking very much, often spending our weekends at home with me baking and him barbecuing. We enjoy replicating food items, like mcdonald’s sausage egg mcmuffin, at home. This time, Jon decided to make Gordon Ramsay’s beef wellington.

No matter how controversial Gordon Ramsay is, Jon and I always find great pleasure in watching his shows like Hell’s Kitchen, Masterchef, Kitchen Nightmares, etc. It is less about the drama. In fact, the drama is what detracts us from the show and makes the show a little boring. Instead, Jon and I take great fascination in seeing Gordon Ramsay’s enthusiasm and passion for food. He’s a perfectionist in every way and is always up for a culinary challenge. Despite his constant use of profanities, he gives chefs real solid advice and does not hesitate to compliment other chefs where such compliments are due. In Masterchef, Gordon Ramsay is really the only chef that actually gives the home cooks advice to help them improve themselves, as compared to Joe Bastianich who only focuses on the drama.

Despite our support for Gordon Ramsay, we’ve never had the opportunity to dine at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant. We learned of the beef wellington from Hell’s Kitchen since they frequently serve it during their dinner services. Gordon Ramsay is very famous for his beef wellington and after watching it so many times on Hell’s Kitchen, our longing to try it grew intensely. Since we knew that it would be long before we would ever try a real beef wellington, Jon decided to make it instead. Hence, the first time we made the beef wellington, is also the first time we tried the beef wellington.

Jon took special attention and effort on doing this one. The recipe is quite long and complex and since there were quite a number of expensive ingredients involved, he couldn’t mess this one up! Seeing Jon put together the beef wellington was like doing a jigsaw puzzle. There were so many components to it and with time and patience, they will all somehow fit together. I could tell that he enjoyed the challenge, grinning to himself on a couple of occasions, making sure that every strip of parma ham was laid out evenly, and the mushroom mixture spread out evenly.

Jon definitely had everything under control and did not have a single panicky moment. After he put the beef wellington into the oven, it wasn’t long before the delicious aroma of beef and pastry started to fill the house. Our stomachs grew hungrier at ever passing second and all of us took turns to peek into the oven, watching the puff pastry slowly start to brown and glisten. The golden moment arrived and we took it out of the oven. By then, we were already drooling! The puff pastry was so crispy and because Jon had cut the top of the wellington the shape of leaf veins before putting it in the oven to bake, the end result was just so beautiful. As he cut the beef wellington, the juices of the delicious beef flowed out, revealing a perfectly cooked tenderloin. It was perfect.

As we devoured the beef wellington, the dining room was filled with only oohs and aahs.